Christmas Newletter 2011
6
Berne Avenue
Newcastle-under-Lyme
Staffordshire ST5 2QJ
14th December 2011
To
all our friends and family
It's the end of November and vigorous winds are blowing. But they are
from the south, so it's incredibly mild, with crocus shoots already
appearing and we can catch up a bit and put in late bulbs. Nevertheless
Christmas is approaching with the welcome opportunity to greet our
family and friends. We do hope that you have a lovely Christmas and a
prosperous New Year.
2011 has been memorable year for getting tickets. First for the
football when, thanks to the help of friends, particularly Gurnos
Jones, the internet and some queuing, nine of the family met up at
Wembley
for the FA Cup semi-final. And wonderfully Stoke won 5-0 -
what
a day! The
cup final itself was a bit of an anticlimax - the wrong team
won
but again it was nice meeting up with three of the family and Gurnos
again.
The second was the Wagner
opera festival at Bayreuth. We have been
applying for tickets for ten years without success but this year we
were lucky. We had a lovely motor trip visiting Mike
and family in
Paris, the Vosges
and, on the way home, having a meal with Heli
and
Jürgen Troe in Göttingen as well as visiting one of the Dutch
Friesian
islands. Bayreuth,
where we attended both Tristan and Isolde and
Tannhauser, was a wonderful experience altogether - however Tannhauser
was one of the worst opera productions we have ever attended - they
even ruined the enjoyment of the renowned overture. It was roundly
booed at the end and received very poor reviews . Ironically it is the
very bad productions that stay forever in one's memory!
Other opera trips were twice to Llandudno
for the mini WNO seasons
there and the usual week in Buxton
where we managed to cram in several
book talks and concerts as well as the eight operas! There were also
excursions with friends to see Opera North productions and also to the
RNCM and to Munich.
We took advantage of a trip to Northern
Ireland to boat there for a few
days before the resumption of the
inquest on my sister and
brother-in-law. While it took nearly two years to complete
the inquiry,
the coroner handled to matter in a most sensitive way with every
consideration for the family - it was a most impressive occasion with,
for once, the State showing its best side. The boat then provided the
ideal vehicle to take my nephews and nieces on an excursion to the
ruined abbey and round tower at Devenish,
which they had visited often
in their youth with their parents. We all (ages from 55 to 76) played
hide and seek in the warm September sunshine.
We also ventured
south where Patricia re-visited old haunts on a trip
to Worthing where her grandparents lived. We visited Roman remains at
Lullingstone, Fishbourne and Bignor as well as enjoying a long walk on
the South Downs. We travelled home via Reading to see Kath
Glover, who
taught me still more about radioactivity proportional counters, in a
lesson which had begun with her some sixty years before at Harwell.
Perhaps the most
unusual visit was to Albania where we went on an
Andante archaeological tour. A cheerful group of about twenty led by an
excellent guide visited sites in Tirana, Appolonia, Butrint,
Gjirocastra, Byllis, Berat, Durres and Kruja. It is a remarkable
country which seems to have been at the fag end of everything for at
least four thousand years. Nowhere else has given me the impression of
history still actively in progress.
Our three boys and their wives are still in good form. Michael
seems to
make a weekly commute to Moscow to negotiate Total's share of the
costs, work and profits of extracting oil and gas from under the deep
Barents Sea, or to Kazakstan to extract gas and oil from the more
technically difficult fields under the shallow Caspian Sea, or to
Azerbajan where Total has further interests. Stephen
travels regularly
to the Far East and India; the new LED light market seems to be booming
for their incredibly reflective aluminium. And Paul
is progressing in
his career with a large insurance company.
Of the grandchildren: Fiona is gainfully employed with the defence
science and technology laboratory while her partner, Adam, is working
through his actuarial qualifications with a national accounting firm in
Bristol. Felicity, William and James are at University. We had a meal
with Felicity when she was helping train sniffer dogs in Chester as
part of her Animal Behaviour course at Bristol; Will has redeemed
himself with Business Studies at Edinburgh but seems to be a full time
juggler and an active participant in Pyroceltica. James is enjoying his
engineering projects at Loughborough. The other three, Charlie, Sarah
and Timmy are still at school. Charlie is at Malvern; Sarah appears to
have had a wonderful year abroad in Canada before resuming her studies
in Düsseldorf, and Timmy seems to be doing well at golf and football as
well as school. The only downside is that we see very little of them.
At home we garden
and go
for regular tramps in the Peak District,
Shropshire or more locally. We're wrestling with our web site at the
moment since, although we get much fun out of developing it, it is
becoming an ever increasing job - and indeed a lifetime's work in
several senses! Happy memories were revived when we put up the pictures
of our honeymoon (1958) and our time in the States (1959 - 61) - as can
be seen there, we were indeed very young.
But even though considerably older, we still seem to learn the hard way
- for example the travesty of the "loyal" customer. We discovered that,
because we simply assumed that we would get a reasonable rate and
renewed our annual premiums for car and home insurance without
question, we were being overcharged by several hundred pounds per annum
in each case. And energy costs are similar. The general business model
seems to be to make one's profits on those who are lazy, thick or
elderly, all categories into which we fit admirably. So don't you get
caught -as always - Caveat Emptor!
Our insurance wake up came as a result of buying a new
car just before
last Christmas. It was a bit of a surprise - I forgot to take
something
to read when I took the old one in for a repair, looked around and came
back with a new car! We are pleased with it and had a grand
trip to
Austria in January to ski. We are booked to go again, but
this time
with Christopher and Gwenda which should be fun. We always stay at the
Wurmkogel in Hochgurgl where we know the family and the staff and
always receive a warm welcome.
We expect to be here at home over Christmas and will, as usual we hope,
use the period to walk a lot and so improve our fitness and endurance
for skiing. We shall also watch some opera videos, and read through all
the cards and messages that you all so kindly send. We shall think of
you and hope you are comfortably enjoying yourselves with
your families.
With much love from us both.
Patricia
and Peter
P.S. One thing not mentioned in the posted letter:
we finally
finished our work this year with the publication of a book on Remote
Sensing. It really is the end and it is astonishing how
quickly it is all receding into the past.